| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
foam (fəʊm) ![]() | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a mass of small bubbles of gas formed on the surface of a liquid, such as the froth produced by agitating a solution of soap or detergent in water |
| 2. | frothy saliva sometimes formed in and expelled from the mouth, as in rabies |
| 3. | the frothy sweat of a horse or similar animal |
| 4. | a. any of a number of light cellular solids made by creating bubbles of gas in the liquid material and solidifying it: used as insulators and in packaging |
| b. (as modifier): foam rubber; foam plastic | |
| 5. | a colloid consisting of a gas suspended in a liquid |
| 6. | a mixture of chemicals sprayed from a fire extinguisher onto a burning substance to create a stable layer of bubbles which smothers the flames |
| 7. | a poetic word for the sea |
| —vb | |
| 8. | to produce or cause to produce foam; froth |
| 9. | (intr) to be very angry (esp in the phrase foam at the mouth) |
| [Old English fām; related to Old High German feim, Latin spūma, Sanskrit phena] | |
| 'foamless | |
| —adj | |
| 'foamlike | |
| —adj | |
foam (fōm) Pronunciation Key
|
foam definition
|
(Hos. 10:7), the rendering of _ketseph_, which properly means twigs or splinters (as rendered in the LXX. and marg. R.V.). The expression in Hosea may therefore be read, "as a chip on the face of the water," denoting the helplessness of the piece of wood as compared with the irresistable current.
foam at the mouth
Be extremely angry, as in She was foaming at the mouth over the judge's ruling. This hyperbolic term uses the verb foam in the sense of "froth at the mouth," a usage generally applied to animals such as horses and dating from about a.d. 950. [1400s]